News

MS sufferer turning to street dealers for drugs

First published
in News
by Damian Fantato, Council Reporter, also covering Oxford city centre. Call me on 01865 425429

A GRANDMOTHER from Abingdon says she has resorted to buying drugs from street dealers to tackle the pain she suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Michelle X – which is her real name – says being cautioned by the police for growing the drug has “changed her life”. And she says she is willing to go to prison to press the case for Ms victims to be able to use cannabis legally.

The 46-year-old MS sufferer said: “It is annoying me like mad that I have to buy the drug off street dealers because I am stuck with their prices and I don’t know what I am getting.

“I don’t know whether the people I am buying drugs from are dangerous or not. I have not got a clue who they are.

“I would go to prison. I would go that far to make a stand.

“I feel I wouldn’t have done this 10 years ago because I had other commitments, but now I am in a position where I can make that stand.”

The Multiple Sclerosis Trust says anecdotal reports suggest cannabis might be useful for MS symptoms such as pain, spasticity and bladder symptoms, but research has had mixed results.

The Oxfordshire-based drugs charity The Beckley Foundation has backed Ms X’s plight, although the Oxford and district branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society has said cannabis use is illegal.

Ms X is determined to continue – but said it was becoming increasingly hard to find cannabis on the street.

Since being cautioned by the police, she has become involved in advising other people on the medical use of cannabis and the Abingdon and Oxfordshire Cannabis Social Club – a branch of a national movement to legalise cannabis.

In October, she was given a caution after police found 28 cannabis plants and nearly 60g of the drug when they raided her Abingdon home.